


If you're Skating on Thin Ice, You Might as well Dance

by Kellyscams



Series: Kells' Fic Fest [29]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Pick-Up Lines, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluffy Ending, Hospitals, M/M, Meet-Cute, Minor Injuries, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-02 03:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16778743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kellyscams/pseuds/Kellyscams
Summary: The last thing Clint Barton remembers clearly was walking down the streets on a cold winter's night, annoyed at the slice of pizza he'd been eating for getting sauce on him. Now, he's waking up in the hospital and there's an angel sitting next to him. Okay, maybe not arealangel, but hot damn, Bucky Barnes is close enough.





	If you're Skating on Thin Ice, You Might as well Dance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katsdisturbed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katsdisturbed/gifts).



> Prompt: Hey sweetheart. I've got a prompt for you, if you don't mind. I love Phil Coulson and Clint Barton (Phlint). They are my main OTP. I wuv them! Of course if this ship isn't your thing, it's an acquired taste, maybe some Winterhawk? Thanks in advance, even if you decide not to. I love your writing, so you know I am going to be reading all of these one way or another.

There’s a dull ache in the back of Clint’s head. It’s not a regular headache, though. Strange. He can’t remember going out and a good time. Good enough that it’d leave him hungover and Clint doesn’t usually wake with a headache unless there’s a reason for it. 

He’s vaguely aware of the fact that there are other things out of place. This bed, for instance, doesn’t feel right. His body feels extremely heavy. Sluggish. Clint can’t seem to move it without a lot of effort. He hasn’t even managed to get his eyes opened yet. 

Clint smacks his lips together and groans. Huh. Okay, so the pain isn’t just in his head. His tongue grazes his lip. There’s a gash. He lifts his eyebrows. Feels what he thinks is a bandage wrapped around his head. 

When Clint finally gets his eyes open, he realizes that he’s in a hospital. Hooked up to an I.V. With an angel sitting in the chair next to his bed. Soft, brown hair with a slight poof. Sinfully plump lips--red as forbidden fruit. Two silvery blue eyes. There’s even light glowing behind him and everything. Of course, that could always just be fluorescent lights. Clint is feeling a little woozy. 

The second Mr. Angel notices that Clint’s awake, his eyes go wide, a big smile spreads across his mouth, and he starts talking. Problem is, Clint doesn’t hear a word he’s saying. Most of the time, Clint can read lips even when he’s drunk. He’s not even sure why his hearing aids aren’t in or where they’d be. 

Since he can’t understand, Clint taps his ear and shakes his head. What he wouldn’t give to hear this guy’s voice. 

About to signal for a pen and paper, Clint is shocked when the guy taps him on the shoulder to grab his attention and then actually starts _signing_. He's so surprised that it takes him a second to pay attention to what’s being signed to him. 

_Hi_ , he says. _My name is B-U-C-K-Y._ Bucky, then. Cute name for an angel. _I’ll call your doctor for you_ , _he has your hearing aids at the nurse’s station._

 _Why?_ Clint asks. _Why’d they take them_?

 _No, no, they fell out,_ Bucky answers. _They wanted to keep them sterile for you_.

 _They fell out_?

Bucky laughs and says that he’ll explain as he gets up to go fetch the doctor and presumably his hearing aids along with them. 

While Clint is sans pretty angel, he takes a good look around his little curtained area. On the little table next to him is a clear bag with his clothes, which means he’s sitting here in a ridiculous hospital gown, of course. His phone is also there. He grabs it and opens the camera. 

Just as he predicted, there’s a cut on his lip and the bandage around his head covers a gash. A bump on the back of his head, too. Clint turns his gaze upward. Looks at his I.V. drip. He doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s in a rather significant amount of pain. Some coffee would be nice, but he’s sure they’ll only give him some water. 

The curtains pull open again and Bucky comes walking back in with, who Clint assumes is his ER doctor, behind him. The doctor smiles and waves and hands over Clint’s hearing aids in a sterile bag. They wait patiently as he puts them in. 

“Hello, Mr. Barton,” the doctor greets. “I’m Dr. Banner. How’re you feeling?”

“Out of it, a little,” Clint says. “My heat hurts. And I’m sore.”

“That’s to be expected,” Dr. Banner replies, though no one has bothered to explain to Clint exactly what he’s doing here. “You’re a lot more lucid than when you first came in, though. Can you follow this light, please?”

First came in? The last thing Clint remembers is walking down the block and getting a big glob of sauce on his shirt from the slice of pizza he’d been eating. Also, it was freezing. Frost came out of his mouth whenever he breathed and he definitely should’ve worn something more than a purple sweatshirt.

Dr. Banner clicks a little light on and shines it in Clint’s eyes. He moves it from side to side, nodding with approval. He then proceeds to check Clint’s reflexes and has him squeeze his fingers and push against his hands and resist having his arms pushed down. This is all met with approval by Dr. Banner. 

“Okay, this all looks good,” he says when he’s finished. “I've ordered a catscan, just to be sure so someone should come by shortly to bring you up for that, okay?”

“Um, sure.” He nods. “You’re the doc, Doc.” 

Alone with Bucky again, Clint glances over and receives an even more adorable smile than before. Bucky’s not wearing scrubs or anything, so he doesn’t work here at the hospital. As far as Clint knows, though, he doesn’t actually know him. Or remember him. Oh, god, he does remember a movie that’s a true story that started off just like this. 

“We’re not married,” Clint panics, “are we?” 

“What?” Bucky almost laughs and shakes his head. “No. No, we’ve never met before.” 

“We’ve…” Clint scratches the top of his head. “Then--”

“Oh, shit, you mean, you don’t remember what happened?” 

“Uh…” Uh oh. “No?” 

This time, Bucky actually does laugh. Hard enough that his entire face turns bright red and little tears hug the corners of his eyes. Makes him even cuter. 

“Okay, um, where do I begin?”

“From the beginning?”

Bucky must like Clint’s ridiculous joke. He nibbles on his bottom lip and bats his eyelashes. The story does start right around the last bit of time that Clint remembers. When he had been walking down the block. Farther down there’d been a nightclub called _Asgard_ which everyone refers to as Ass-gard because, c’mon, the owners Thor and Loki Odinson had to’ve known what they were doing. 

“I came out to the front for a cigarette,” Bucky says. “My ex, Brock, followed me. We got into a fight.” He rolls his eyes. “Not unusual, but I know that from the outside it might look violent. Never gotten that way though. I can see how it looked like we were gonna come to blows. Since he _is_ a lot bigger than me.” 

“Shit,” Clint whispers. “Did I… did I get into a fight with your ex then? Trying to help you?”

“Uh, not exactly.” Bucky picks at his fingers like he’s nervous or embarrassed. “You ran toward us and slipped on some ice. You hit your head pretty bad.”

Secondhand embarrassed, then. Because if anyone has any reason to be embarrassed here, it’s Clint. The only knight in shining armor who would fall off the horse on his way to rescue a princess or prince or both. 

“Yeah, that sounds like me.” Clint sighs. “Great first impression.”

“It was an awesome first impression,” Bucky says. Very kind of him. “I’d’ve given your twirl a nine point eight.” 

“Oh man. Your ex must’ve gotten a kick outta that.”

“Yeah, well, he may’ve said something a little…” Bucky clears his throat. “Colorfully offensive. You and I may not’ve had the chance to sock ‘im in the jaw, but someone else sure tried to--” 

“Tried my ass! I had ‘im on the ropes!” The yell comes just from the area next to them and the thin curtains that separate the two do nothing to stifle him. “I could’ve wiped the floor with his stupid face!” 

“Steven, be quiet.” This voice, calm but stern, belongs to a woman. English. “There’s a reason _you’re_ in a bed, too.” 

“He got in _one_ punch! It’s not _my_ fault my girlfriend is ridiculously overprotective and--”

“And I’d be extremely careful how you finish that sentence, darling.” 

“Y-yes, Peggy.” 

They fall quiet and a second later, Clint can hear them giggling. Sounds like they exchange a few kisses as well. From next to him, Bucky holds back a few chuckles as well. He even starts to pull the curtain back, too. Just enough so that Clint can see the two people behind it. 

A pretty, brown-eyed lady with full, long lashes smiles at him. Her dark brown hair has a slight curl at the bottom and pinned at the side. She’s also wearing red lipstick that looks straight out of the 30s and she pulls it off so well it’s a crime that can’t be her natural shade. Clint assumes that’s Peggy. 

The other isn’t what Clint expected at all. Not with that deep, husky voice of his. Messy dark blonde hair. Bright blue eyes behind thick glasses. Ridiculously pale. Real small. Real thin. Like Clint could snap him in two if he tried hard enough. 

“Just in case you don’t remember them either,” Bucky says, “This is my chihuahua, Steve--”

“Hey!”

“--and Peggy, his girlfriend.”

“Hello, Clint,” Peggy says. “Are you feeling any better?”

Scratching the back of his neck, Clint sort of shrugs. Now he gets the pleasure of being embarrassed in front of three people. 

“That was totally awesome, dude,” Steve says. Despite all the things and distance between them, Steve is stretching his entire body across the side of the bed for a fist bump. “Anyone willing to jump in to defend a total stranger is cool in my book.” 

Poor Steve’s face is all black and blue. Clearly, he was able to do a lot more in Bucky’s defense than Clint. Or not. Depending on how one looked at that. Either way, Clint leans over to give Steve that fist bump. Makes him feel good. Like he’s been accepted by someone important to Bucky. If Steve was willing to get his ass kicked for him, they must mean something to each other. 

“Y’know.” Bucky snorts. “Sometimes, I think you _like_ getting punched.” 

“Well.” Steve holds his chin up and smirks. “Not _punched_.”

“Steve!” 

Bucky blushes so hard while Steve giggles like a madman at his dirty joke and Peggy, though she slaps her boyfriend in the shoulder for saying it, shrugs and bobs her head back and forth. Not denying it, then. Wow. Where have these people been all Clint’s life?

“I’m breaking up with you guys,” Bucky grumbles and pulls the curtains closed again. “And hanging out with my new friend.” He scoffs and rubs his eyes as he looks back at Clint again. “I’m, uh, I’m sorry about him. Steve’s tiny with a big personality, but he’s the best friend in the world.” 

Before Clint can answer, the curtain is pulled back again -- just enough so that Steve’s head is poking through -- and he’s giving Bucky a big, cheesy smile.

“You _love_ me…” 

Bucky drops his head in a facepalm. “Steve…” 

Still snickering with his tongue between his teeth, Steve yanks the curtain closed again. Clint can’t help laughing, too. These two are cute. 

“Anyway.” Bucky sighs. “You were awake when we got here. I think the morphine made you a little drowsy and that’s probably why you didn’t remember.” 

Morphine. Huh. No wonder Clint’s feeling so loopy. Loopy enough to grin and pat Bucky’s hand and say, “I’m sorry I couldn’t actually be any service to you, beautiful.” 

Mortified, doped up on morphine or not, that those ridiculous words just came out of his mouth, Clint drops his face in his hands and groans into his palms. Somewhere in there is an apology for that possible pick-up line, horrible as it may’ve been. 

And yet.

“No worries. I got to watch an angel fall from heaven.” 

Clint slowly lifts his head out of the palms of his head. He must still be pumped full of morphine because there’s just _no_ way he heard that correctly. 

“I’m sorry,” Bucky chuckles. “I know. That was bad.”

“Are you kidding? After was I just…” Clint grins. “That was the best pick-up line ever compared to mine.” His heart sinks a little. “That… that _was_ a pick-up line… wasn’t it? Oh, please, I hope I didn’t read this _that_ wrong, if I didn’t it’s the morphine, I _swear_.”

Bucky laughs again. “Yes, it was. There’s a coffee station out in the lobby. Not exactly the most traditional first date, but I bet I can sneak some in. Maybe we can start getting to know each other a little better.” 

Another grin pulls up on Clint’s mouth. “Oh, Bucky. You just discovered my biggest weakness.”

“I don’t think it’s the best coffee.” 

“Well, coffee with a beautiful guy is still coffee with a beautiful guy.” 

“Oh my god.” Bucky buries a blush and gets up. “I’m gonna get us that coffee.”

Clint’s still smiling when Bucky leaves. Checking his phone, he’s got a text from his friend Tasha. Isn’t any wonder. They usually check in with each other. As he’s typing up a response to explain to her what happened, sure to add that he’s okay and to keep out the humiliating parts that he’ll end up sharing another time, he hears a noise.

“Psst.” It comes from the side, followed by a whispered, “Hey!”

Clint looks over to see that Steve’s peeled the curtain back a little bit. Peggy’s not paying any attention to him this time. She’s on her phone. Looks like she’s reading something. 

“Uh, yeah?”

“If you hurt him,” Steve says with a big smile on his face. “I’ll kill you.” 

“But…” Clint blinks a few times. He’s not exaggerating. Well, yes he is, but maybe not by much. “We’re not even--”

“I’m just saying. That’s my soulmate, pal.” Steve winks. “And no one fucks with him.”

His soulmate. Steve’s gone and said that right in front of his girlfriend, who glances up and catches eyes with Clint and smirks as though she one hundred percent agrees with everything Steve’s saying. And will also defend it to the death. 

“O-okay,” Clint agrees. “I think… I think I’m a nice guy. And not a “nice guy”. I’m pretty sure I’m _actually_ a nice guy. I think. I try to be? When I woke up here I thought he was an angel?”

Both Steve and Peggy chuckle. 

“I think Bucky’s made a rather good choice here,” Peggy says. “Wouldn’t you agree, Steve?” 

“Maybe. We’ll see. Bucky’s the easy one to win over.”

“What, uh, what about his family?” Clint asks. “Shouldn’t I have to win them over?”

Steve waves that question off like it’s not a big deal at all. “Please. _I’m_ the one that matters most. Everyone knows that.”

Peggy slaps him in the arm. “I think you’re giving yourself more credit than you deserve.”

“Puh-lease.” Steve crosses his arms. “Everyone knows the best friend is the one that matters most.” 

The strong smell of coffee alerts them all to Bucky’s return before any of them can see him. As soon as they get a whiff of it, Steve quickly -- hastily -- pulls the curtain back again. So fast it gets all bunched up and Steve once again dissolves into a fit of giggles. 

“Are you torturing this poor guy again?” Bucky asks. He must’ve stopped at the foot of Steve’s bed. “Am I really gonna have to break-up with you, punk?”

“Pft. You could never really break-up with me, jerk.” 

Bucky’s chuckling when he comes back around with their coffee. He wiggles his eyebrows and hands one to Clint. It’s warm between his hands. Smells mediocre, but coffee right now is better than no coffee. 

“So, Bucky,” Clint says after they’ve both taken sips. “When I’m officially busted out of this place, you think I can take you out someplace a little nicer?”

Glancing down at the paper cup in his hands, Bucky smiles at it and then back up at Clint. He nods.

“I think I owe you a proper cup of coffee.”

Thank god Clint’s not hooked up to a heart monitor. It would probably start spiking right now. Maybe it’d even skip a beat. 

“So, that’s a… yes?”

Bucky stands and leans in very slowly to gently press a kiss to Clint’s brow. Even through the bandages, Clint’s sure he can feel his lips. There’s so much tenderness, so much affection, Clint’s glowing. He might even float away. 

“That’s a yes,” Bucky whispers. “I’ve always wanted to go out with a knight in shining armor. Even if he does slip on some ice.” 

Forget glowing, Clint is bright as a star. How could he not be? 

An adorable angel wants to go out on a date with this clumsy wannabe knight in shining armor. 

If he had to fall and make a fool out of himself, at least he did it in the most perfect way possible. 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to check me out on tumblr for more stucky and marvel fun at [thebestpersonherelovesbucky](http://thebestpersonherelovesbucky.tumblr.com/)


End file.
